Frontier Airlines customers will no longer be able to speak on the phone with customer support after the airline removed its phone service in favor of “fully digital communications.”
The Denver-based airline recently transitioned away from the customer service phone number after its Nov. 15 Investor Day report called one-on-one voice calls “unscalable, inefficient and expensive” and left room for “customer negotiation.”
Customers now can visit the airline’s website and interact virtually with a chatbot or chat live with an agent via the website, social media channels and WhatsApp.
“We have found that most customers prefer communicating via digital channels,” said Jennifer De La Cruz, a spokesperson for Frontier Airlines, in an email. “Customers can visit our website and interact initially with a chatbot which provides answers to common questions. If live agent support is needed, we have live chat available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.”
According to the Investor Day report, the use of the chatbot reduces contacts and removes customer negotiation opportunities, and the live chat system will allow one agent to simultaneously serve three customers.
The investor report also indicates the new digital system would entail a 40% reduction of customer service employees, from 575 to about 350.
